


Scenes From a Special Kinda Life (The Cutting Room Floor Remix)

by gladdecease



Category: Heroes (TV)
Genre: Character of Color, Community: remix_redux, Documentary, M/M, POV Original Character, Remix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-16
Updated: 2010-05-16
Packaged: 2017-10-09 12:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladdecease/pseuds/gladdecease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Other people did documentaries on quirky offices.  Or quirky families.  Or cute animals!  But instead, Mike got this family: arguably quirky, but most likely just insane.  Which was not good for ratings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scenes From a Special Kinda Life (The Cutting Room Floor Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [airspaniel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/airspaniel/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Scenes From a Special Kinda Life](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/807) by airspaniel. 



Michael Smit had wanted to do a solo documentary for _ages_. Every time he watched an episode of "Modern Family" or "Meerkat Manor", he thought to himself, _that could be me_.

So when he got word that the bosses had picked up a new contract for a documentary, he jumped at the chance to work on the project. It only got better when his cameraman turned out to be Susan Somers, one of his closest friends at the station. They were always perfectly in sync when working on a project together - there was no way this could go badly.

He should have known better.

* * *

Susan flipped through the pages of the overview they'd been handed at this morning's meeting. "Adopted daughter of a gay couple?" she asked.

"It's sure to bring in controversy," Mike explained, turning onto the next street.

"Well, yeah, of course," Susan said, skimming a few more pages. "But isn't it kind of... I don't know, simple? You'd think with all the warnings we got there would be _more_ controversy than - hang on."

"We're here!" Mike parked and grabbed his things. Coming around to the passenger's side, he saw that Susan hadn't moved to grab her equipment yet. "What is it?"

She held out her overview. "What do you make of that?" she said, pointing at a line on the last page. "We forfeit our right to go to the authorities about anything we might see here by accepting the assignment?"

Mike shrugged. "Maybe one of the dads is in organized crime." Grabbing one of Susan's supplemental cameras, he headed for the house - a nice, respectable looking two-story place in the suburbs. He knocked, and a young teenage girl with too much make-up on answered.

"Are you the guys the TV channel sent?" she asked.

He held out a hand. "Mike Smit, pleased to meet you." She took his hand and shook, warily. "You must be Molly."

"Yeah." She let them inside, looking them over. "So, how is this going to work?"

"Well - "

"Uh, hold on," Molly interrupted, looking at Susan, her camera already out and rolling. "Are we doing the cameras straight off the bat?"

Susan pulled back from her camera. "Any reason we shouldn't be?"

"Um," Molly glanced back at a closet. "This may not be the best time."

"We'll cut out anything you don't want shown to the public," Mike promised. "But we should keep the cameras on, just in case something really good comes up."

"That's not really what I meant," Molly said.

An attractive Indian man walked into the hallway and caught sight of Mike and Susan. His forehead wrinkled in confusion, and he approached them. "Hello," he said, holding out a hand, "I'm Mohinder Suresh, one of Molly's fathers." He shook with a strong, firm hand - a good sign of a sensible man. "I gather you're the interviewer and cameraman? Or is camerawoman the proper term?"

"Cameraman is fine," Susan said shortly. "Is the other father home?"

Mohinder and Molly glanced at each other. "No, I think he went out."

_Huh_, Mike thought. _That glance looked suspicious_. Maybe he wasn't wrong about that "organized crime" guess. He glanced at Susan, who seemed to have the same idea, if the look in her eye was anything to go by. He tugged at his collar meaningfully.

Mohinder blinked, that movement shocking him back into awareness. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to ask for your coats." He held out his hand to Susan, who was still wearing her long wool-lined coat. "You must be roasting in here."

She shrugged out of her coat and handed it to Mohinder, who walked over to the nearest closet.

Molly winced.

Mike glanced at Susan; she already had her camera up and zoomed in.

Mohinder opened the closet, and was knocked down by a body.

A dead, brain-less, head-removed body.

Mike jumped back, screaming, "Oh my god!" Susan swore loudly. She was made of tougher stuff than him, though; her camera didn't shake or move an inch.

Mohinder shoved the body to one side, got up, and walked off into another room, shouting, "Not in the house!"

Molly sighed. "_That_ was what I meant."

* * *

"A serial killer."

"Yeah."

"He's a _serial killer_."

"You said that."

"He _kills people_ to _steal_ their _super powers_!"

"Well, at least now we know why we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement."

* * *

"_So_," Mike said, full of false cheer, "how do you do it?"

Mohinder leaned back against his comfortable couch. "How do we do what?"

"How do you manage a relationship with a serial killer? I imagine it must be difficult at times." He barely hid a wince; for some reason, Susan had decided to shove the heel of her shoe hard on the toe of his.

Mohinder smiled, and looked warmly at Sylar, placing a hand on his knee. "I think the most important thing to remember is that all relationships are about compromise."

Mike felt like gagging as he watched Sylar put his hand on Mohinder's hand, quietly agreeing with him. Susan's foot met his again, painfully. He glanced at her; she was wearing her "you _asked_ for this, remember?" face, which she had been wearing with a much higher frequency these days.

And she was right, he did ask for it. Now, of course, he was wishing he'd waited for a different option. Other people did documentaries on quirky offices. Or quirky families. Or cute animals! But instead, Mike got _this_ family: arguably quirky, but most likely just insane. Which was not good for ratings. They started laughing about some time when Mohinder had tortured Sylar, which seemed to both prove his point and point out his problem.

He needed an angle.

* * *

"I don't know if I can do it, Susan. I mean, serial killer living the happy apple pie life?"

"It's pretty hard to work with."

"You can say that again."

"Cheer up. It took them a few days to find the Jim/Pam angle on "The Office", right? We'll find something."

"Yeah... maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle."

"Molly? She seems pretty ordinary."

"We haven't looked very closely at her, though, have we?"

"Fair enough. Want to set up an interview with her later?"

"Sure."

* * *

_Well. So much for **this** angle,_ Mike thought.

Molly looked upset as they finished up the Sylar question, and for a second he thought all might not be lost. Then she begged him not to tell Mohinder that she was cheating on her homework with Sylar's help, and - yeah. Because _that_ was totally why he was so angry right now. Yeah. Cheating really got him up in arms.

_That_ was it.

* * *

"He killed her parents."

"Mike - "

"_He killed her parents_."

"_Mike_."

"But, Susan - "

"He killed Mohinder's father too."

"_How_, exactly, is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"_Think_ for a second. Two people directly affected by his actions are now the closest to him."

"So?"

"_So_, we're still going at this the wrong way."

"...oh."

* * *

"I'm not sure I understand why you asked for a one-on-one, Mike," Sylar said, towering over him. "I know you can't stand me."

"That may be true - " Mike started, internally wincing. This wasn't going as planned.

"It is." _I can **tell**_, he didn't bother to say. Mike didn't shudder, but it was a very near thing.

" - but I have a responsibility to this project, to make it the best I can. And you're a big part of this project, you're the reason _why_ I got the project." Sylar stared unblinkingly down at Mike, which was both creepy and terrifying. "Please. Have a seat."

Sylar stared at him for just long enough to be uncomfortable, then quietly said, "Alright." He sat on an armrest, which kept him a head above Mike in his chair. "Ask away."

"Why Mohinder?"

Sylar's eyes softened at the corners, and he started talking without asking for clarification. The warmth and sincerity in his tone made Mike smile involuntarily. A quick glance at Susan showed a triumphant smile on her face. He could hardly blame her; there were tears in Sylar's eyes. _Tears_, for God's sake. Mike didn't jump up and dance around excitedly, but it was a near thing.

She had been right - they'd found their angle.


End file.
